Anti-splitting tie iron



March 26, 1963 J. H. YOUNG ANTI-SPLITTING TIE IRON,

Filed April 4, 1960 FIG. 4

INVEN TOR.

JACOB H. YOUNG ATTORNEY atgm fiFice 3,082,658 AN'ii-SPMTTING THE EON Jacob H. Young, Glendale, Mo., assignor to Western Wire Products Company, St. Louis, Mo, a corporation of Missouri Filed Apr. 4, 1960, Ser. No. 19,926 3 Claims. (Cl. 85-11) This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in tie irons and, more particularly, to anti-checking devices adapted to be driven into the cross-grain ends of railway ties, heavy timber, and the like.

When railroad ties and similar heavy timbers are air dried, cured and/or subjected to continuous usage, the cross-grain ends tend to split or check. Such checking will destroy the tie and render it useless. It has been found that by driving so-called tie irons into the crossgrain ends of the ties, the useful life of the railroad tie or timber may be greatly increased. However, one of the problems in using tie irons of the types heretofore available is that such irons provide little or no support for the wood fibers of the ties under stress. In fact, it has been found, over a substantial period of usage, that the reinforcing iron tends to spread the fibers of the railroad tie and aggravates, rather than prevents the damage which results from checking.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an iron of the type and for the purposes stated which may be readily driven into a railroad tie or timber for providing structural reinforcement thereof across a large part of the cross-sectional area.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a tie iron of the type stated which may be driven into the tie for reinforcing the center without causing any additional splitting or checking in the peripheral portions outwardly of the iron.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tie iron which can be driven with unusual ease and will eifectively resist longitudinal forces tending to distort or elongate it.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a split-checking iron made in accordance with and embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end elevational view of a railway tie equipped with a split-checking iron embodying the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view of a modified form of tie iron constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention.

Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to the drawing, which illustrates practical embodiments of the present invention, A designates a tie iron comprising a continuous elongated metallic bar 1, which is preferably, though not necessarily, made of steel, and includes a pair of spaced parallel side-faces 2, 3, an upper transverse face 4, and a pair of converging edge-faces 5, 6, forming a longitudinal knife-like edge 7. It is also possible to use a single-bevel material, as exemplified in the modified form of tie iron B, having a similar knifelike edge 7', as shown in FIG. 4

At its opposite ends, the bar 1 is integrally connected to a pair of opposed semi-circular bands 8, 9, which, in turn, integrally merge in short straight portions 10, 11, respectively, which are parallel to the bar 1. At their outer ends, the straight portions 10, 11, are bent inwardly in the provision of terminal sections 12, 13, which are perpendicular to the straight portions 10, 11.

It has been found that the expected life of railroad ties can be more than doubled if the straight port-ions 10 11, are made parallel to the bar 1 and the terminal sections 12, 13, are perpendicular to the straight portions 10, 11. Furthermore, it has been found that best results can be obtained if the length of each of the straight portions 10, 11, is about one fourth of the length of the bar 1. In fact, with the iron A, as described above, no splitting or separation of the outer portion of the tie will occur.

it should be understood that changes and modifications in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the tie iron may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A tie iron comprising an elongated substantially straight bar, a pair of arcuately bent portions of substantially U-shaped contour integrally connected to opposing ends of said bar and projecting outwardly therefrom in respectively opposite sides of said bar, elongated elements integrally connected respectively to the outer ends of each of said arcuate portions, said elongated elements being disposed in laterally offset and substantially parallel relation to the bar and terminating in endwise spaced relation to a plane perpendicular to and passing through the center of the bar and in spaced relation to eachother, and an inwardly struck member integrally connected to each of the other ends of the elongated elements, said inwardly struck members projecting perpendicular toward the bar and terminating in spaced relation to said bar and in both laterally and endwise spaced relation to each other, said inwardly struck members extending for a substantial distance toward said bar.

2. A tie iron according to claim 1 in which the arcuate portions are segments of substantially circular arcs and are substantially identical in shape to each other.

3. A tie iron comprising an elongated bar, a pair of arcuately bent portions integrally connected to opposing ends of said bar and projecting outwardly therefrom, an elongated element integrally connected at one end to the outer ends of each of said arcuate portions, and an inwardly struck member integrally connected to each of the other ends of the elongated elements, said arcuate portions being located on opposite sides of the bar and defined by a single radius, each of said arcuate portions being exactly one-half of a circle and terminating at a point remote from the bar but along a line perpendicular to the common connection between the bar and said arcuate portions, the elongated elements each being onefourth as long as the bar and parallel thereto, the inwardly struck members and elongated elements being mutually perpendicular.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 725,375 ,Stambach Apr. 14, 1903 2,035,817 Lloyd Mar. 31, 1936 2,273,508 Beegle Feb. 17, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 12,013 England May 26, 1904 

1. A TIE IRON COMPRISING AN ELONGATED SUBSTANTIALLY STRAIGHT BAR, A PAIR OF ARCUATELY BENT PORTIONS OF SUBSTANTIALLY U-SHAPED CONTOUR INTEGRALLY CONNECTED TO OPPOSING ENDS OF SAID BAR AND PROJECTING OUTWARDLY THEREFROM IN RESPECTIVELY OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID BAR, ELONGATED ELEMENTS INTEGRALLY CONNECTED RESPECTIVELY TO THE OUTER ENDS OF EACH OF SAID ARCUATE PORTIONS, SAID ELONGATED ELEMENTS BEING DISPOSED IN LATERALLY OFFSET AND SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL RELATION TO THE BAR AND TERMINATING IN ENDWISE SPACED RELATION TO A PLANE PERPENDICULAR TO AND PASSING THROUGH THE CENTER OF THE BAR AND IN SPACED RELATION TO EACH OTHER, AND IN INWARDLY STRUCK MEMBER INTEGRALLY CONNECTED TO EACH OF THE OTHER ENDS OF THE ELONGATED ELEMENTS, SAID INWARDLY STRUCK MEMBERS PROJECTING PERPENDICULAR TOWARD THE BAR AND TERMINATING IN SPACED RELATION TO SAID BAR AND IN BOTH LATERALLY AND ENDWISE SPACED RELATION TO EACH OTHER, SAID INWARDLY STRUCK MEMBERS EXTENDING FOR A SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE TOWARD SAID BAR. 